Sophisticated Lake Forest Showhouse

Designers transform a gorgeous Chicago-area home

Slide 1 Of Sophisticated Lake Forest Showhouse

Werner Straube

Since 1985, the Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens has featured the talents of area designers to raise more than $3 million for the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago. The 2013 showhouse—set in an Italianate mansion built in 1916 by prolific Chicago-area architect David Adler—is poised for stylish transformations by 26 design firms. Open April 27 through May 19. For information, visit lakeforestshowhouse.com[1].

Shown here, designer Gail Plechaty’s living room is dressy without apology. Its design—inspired by the famed salons of Paris—makes no attempt to relax the inherent formality of the chamber; rather, it enthusiastically celebrates its classical proportions and rich ornamentation.

Plechaty was guided by symmetry as she placed appointments throughout the stately room. A grand presentation of botanical prints hangs between soaring windows dressed in luxurious silk panels. The coral color of the prints echoes the hue in the rug that grounds a marble-topped coffee table and a pair of Louis XVI chairs flanking a sofa slipcovered in ivory cotton.

A sophisticated, understated gray bathes the perimeters, showcasing the rich architectural details. The shell also provides a glamorous backdrop for furniture covered in civilized shades of ivory, classic and modern artwork, and arresting exterior views.

Alluding to the warm tones in the botanical prints, a round table draped in decadent coral velvet damask rests in the room’s center. A tailored chaise with a simple, graceful profile and matching carved armchairs are spotlighted in a corner. Above, a classic oil painting emphasizes the height of the grand space.

On one wall, pairs of metallic console tables and mirrors flank a black-and-white marble fireplace that demands attention with a graphic contemporary painting atop the mantel. “There are very serious pieces in this room,” says Plechaty, “but the contemporary art breaks the formality and brings everything together.”

At a party, tension is disastrous. In design, it’s divine. Just ask Darcy Bonner, who played a little game of devil’s advocate when he redid a formal dining room.

Instead of bowing to the traditional architecture of the room, Bonner used furniture with clean, contemporary lines as a contrast to the rich ornamentation of the walls, wrapped in a warm and handsome shade of gray. As an added modern counterpoint, the designer extended the ivory tone of the marble fireplace surround with an oversized goatskin-framed mirror above the mantel. Its beveled ivory-leather frame reflects the room’s classic wall paneling.

Across the room, nestled between French doors, a cerused oak buffet boasts a cast-glass slab top in a textured platinum gold-leaf finish. The sparkle continues with a smoky-glass mirror and plaster sconces, also finished with platinum gold leaf.

This master bedroom whispers with a tranquil palette of gray, stone, and cream that calms the senses and promotes relaxation. “It’s serene and dreamlike, and feels comfortable,” says Gemma Parker-McKeon, who designed the space with Joan Craig.

The expansive and well-proportioned room is divided into three distinct areas—sleeping, relaxing, and working. Placed to take advantage of the classic fireplace, the seating area includes a slipcovered armchair, an ivory sofa piped in gray, and a glass-topped coffee table. Although they do not match exactly, silk pillows on the sofa allude to walls that are covered in silk fabric that has the look of travertine marble.

“We wanted the room to be sophisticated without being too formal,” notes Craig of the metallic finishes ranging from the silver-leaf bed to mirrors and glass bedside lamps that enhance the room’s quiet chic. “They accessorize the space like the right piece of jewelry accessorizes a couture outfit.”

The centerpiece is an early-20th-century four-poster with a fretwork headboard and silver-leaf finish placed between a pair of windows. Not wanting to detract from the bed’s intricate detailing, the design team draped bedside tables with tailored slipcovers fabricated from polished ivory cotton with gray insets at each pleated corner. Window treatments of wool sateen drapery panels decorated with geometric borders and backed by ivory shades hug the tables.

Liz McEnaney doesn’t use a magic formula when she designs a room, but her goal is always the same: After the functional requirements of a space have been met, make it pretty—and leave it at that.

In the light-saturated breakfast room, she achieved an easy elegance that includes a neutral color scheme and natural fabrics that let the intriguing architecture, the exterior grounds, and—most important—the people be the stars. “Elegance is simplicity, and in interiors that means creating a soothing palette that is beautiful and makes the people who are enjoying the space feel comfortable and special,” says McEnaney.

Beneath the room’s grand vaulted ceiling with its original plaster ornamentation, furnishings are geared for both dining and relaxing. Dining chairs upholstered in natural-colored linen that implies formality are pulled up to the round table, making the space suitable for both breakfasts and grown-up dinners. In an update on traditional toile, a taupe-and-ivory linen fabric depicting deer was fashioned into drapery panels.

McEnaney chose a well-cushioned linen-covered banquette with nailhead trim to provide more seating. It measures up to the good looks of the other pieces, elaborating on comfort and inviting guests to stay awhile.